Business & Finance

11/29/2011

State officials are weighing how much to penalize Detroit Public Schools for persistent truancy, a problem that could cost the financially troubled district up to $25.9 million, according to documents obtained by The Detroit News.

In order to accommodate the musicals, concerts, dance recitals, talent shows and much more that it holds throughout the academic year, Fort Zumwalt West High School in Missouri recently purchased a HARMAN Soundcraft Si Compact 32 audio mixing console.

Earlier this month, the Tennessee Department of Education released our state’s 2011 results on the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Tennessee students scored about the same as two years ago.

The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District is trying to balance parental donations with the need for equal education opportunities for all.If a well-heeled neighborhood of Los Angeles wanted better police protection, would it be OK for the residents to donate money to their local police station so it could assign an extra patrol car to their streets?

The contracts for next school year -- the ones that will actually provide the type of information parents need, such as which programs, curriculum and extracurricular activities will be provided -- will not be approved and made public until probably spring.

Talking about a $2 billion deficit in Washington can seem unreal -- it's a number almost too big for the average person to imagine, but one that might have very real consequences for thousands of Tri-Citians.

In a distressed neighborhood north of Miami's gleaming downtown, a group of enthusiastic but inexperienced instructors from Teach for America is trying to make progress where more veteran teachers have had difficulty: raising students' reading and math scores.

Seven vinyl banners draped this month along one of Chicago's most iconic bridges, advertisements some have dubbed "a visual crime" and "commercial graffiti," are reviving a debate about how governments raise money in tough economic times.

11/22/2011

In recent years, we’ve been treated to reams of op-ed articles about how we need better teachers in our public schools and, if only the teachers’ unions would go away, our kids would score like Singapore’s on the big international tests.